


Sideline Stories: Dare Night (Kimberly)

by UnicornAffair



Series: Wild Pitch [7]
Category: Power Rangers (2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Gen, Hayley and Calvin are there for like two seconds, Softball AU, The legacy rangers apart from Mia are mostly there as cameo or callbacks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-22
Updated: 2017-10-22
Packaged: 2019-01-21 12:34:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,963
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12457905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UnicornAffair/pseuds/UnicornAffair
Summary: Zack and Kimberly pair up for Tommy's Dare Night extravaganza...a great way to distract themselves from the burning issue that is Trini on the back of their minds.Kimberly's perspective of the later events of Wild Pitch's Chapter 16. https://archiveofourown.org/works/10638636/chapters/23537208READ WILD PITCH CHAPTER 16 BEFORE THIS. (otherwise it wouldn't make sense)





	Sideline Stories: Dare Night (Kimberly)

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone! If you're still reading the other fic this is sort of some bonus content. I'll be doing more of these little snippets for characters as time goes on. This is the first of 5 (possibly 6). We miss I think a lot with it all being in Trini's perspective so I wanted to do a little bit with Kimberly to showcase what's going with her and Zack.

Back in the glory days of Tommy and Kimberly, the “it” couple of Angel Grove, Kimberly was used to these sort of invitations. She looked _forward_ to these private invitations. It was a reminder that they were part of something higher, that they were better than the other kids, the _unpopular_ kids, the average unworthy kids. Kimberly felt like she was on top of the world as a head cheerleader, untouchable. That was a different life, she hardly recognized the girl she used to be.

Trini came into Kim’s life at a time when she felt at her worst, she was a bully, she destroyed one of her _best friends_ by sending out that nude photo. Trini flipped her world upside down by sticking by her, and being her rock during a time when she felt like she was drowning. She came back into her life during a time where she needed someone the most. Trini was there for her when she hit bottom...she wasn’t a cheerleader anymore, she wasn’t Tommy Oliver’s arm candy and she most certainly wasn’t happy with her life.

Letting go of trying to _be_ this girl on the pedestal was the best thing that could've happened to her. She fell in love with her best friend and she didn’t care who in the school knew it. Kimberly worked hard every day to try to make up for the sins of her past. She had put her bullying ways behind her and wanted to _be_ the better person. Someone she could be proud to look at when she saw a mirror. As a cheerleader she was so oblivious to the problems right under her nose. The boys had _everything_ while the girls sports were just struggling to get by, she made that her mission. Something she could put all of her energy into, this could be a purpose to give back to, to do something for someone else for a change. She was the one to issue the challenge, to organize the game, to bring the people of Angel Grove to one spot to see the problem first hand.

Kim never expected the person she fell in love with to sabotage all of her efforts. The one person who helped build her up cut her down...all for a selfish motive, to help Zack. It was difficult to even look at Trini when she came to her with the truth. Kimberly spent all detention trying to come up with new ways to better the girl’s field only for her excitement to be ruined. She couldn’t look at her girlfriend, she was too hurt to really have an actual conversation with her. The entire dynamic shifted, the energy between them felt different. Biology class turned into walking around on eggshells, it was hard to avoid the person she was mad at when they had to work as lab partners.

Despite her hurt feelings, Kimberly went to Trini’s side during Lauren and Gia’s scuffle. She was mad at Trini, she was upset with her girlfriend but she never wanted to see her get pushed around by the bigger girls. Gia was rightfully _pissed_ but she wasn’t right to snap like this, and now the entire team knew. One by one they followed Gia out of the hallway until only four girls remained. Kimberly couldn’t go to practice, she thought that maybe this would be the best way to show Trini how much damaged she actually caused. Besides, it gave her an opportunity to speak with Lauren’s girlfriend Mia Watanabe alone. She wasn’t quite ready to be around her girlfriend just yet, it stung too much.

She received the facetime call from her ex-boyfriend while she was out to coffee with Mia, effectively interrupting their time together. It felt just like old times, the popular kids getting together for a night of secret fun, “I’ll be there” Kimberly could use a distraction and a dare night sounded like just the remedy she needed to escape the suffocating feelings threatening to pull her under again.

Mia had her trusty pink notebook out, getting ready silently from across the table as Kimberly talked to Tommy. She politely waited until the other girl hung up the phone before asking, “Are you going so soon?” Because, that would’ve been extremely rude, they only just sat down for coffee.  

Kimberly shook her head, “No, no, it’s fine. I have plenty of time” She reassured the other girl waving off her future plans like it wasn’t a big deal. It wasn’t. Kimberly had been to one of these secret parties before, it was just a way for Tommy Oliver to showboat what kind of strings he could pull around town. “I actually could use your help...I don’t really know what I’m doing, but, I have some ideas to try and get money for the field” Mia nodded for her friend to continue, Kimberly reached into her own bag to pull out the notes she had been taking. She tried to share her ideas with Trini earlier but...that definitely did not go according to plan. “Just read my outline, see if this is doable”

“It’s great that you care so much about this issue. I’ve constantly told Lauren that you girls shouldn’t settle and fight the system” Mia had a pen at the ready, crossing out and already making edits to Kimberly’s grand scheme. “But what do I know?” There was a reason Kim sought out Mia to help her with this project. The president of the GSA was one of the most organized people Kim had ever met, she had a drive and a passion for bringing justice and making the school a better place. That and she could whip out a detailed flyer or a pamphlet without a second thought. If Kimberly wanted any chance at flipping the field, she needed a force of nature like Mia on her side. The two had a lot in common, un-apologetically bisexual young ladies who had an affinity for pink.

“Can I keep this? I’ll talk to my cousin Cam, I think he could get us a website set up quick for information. My advice, get the girls involved. Emma has a _nice_ camera, it should be able to take high quality video. Tanya is a radio host, if you need someone to send out a message she’s your girl. It’s good to have on a cover page” She wasn’t much of a technology person outside of some basic graphic design, her cousin was better equipped for such a task. “You’ll want to try the sponsor angle sooner rather than later. You're at peak interest after that game. The whole town was practically there to watch” Mia watched as Kimberly shifted uncomfortably in her seat, taking a long sip of her coffee, “Did you want to talk about it?”

Kimberly wasn’t as close to the members of the GSA as Trini was...that was another thing she hid from her. Not that getting help and emotional advice was a _bad_ thing. Kim appreciated what the seniors did for her girlfriend and helping her get through a tough time, this was just a part of Trini’s life that until recently was in the dark about. “Do you?” She countered, “Lauren was the one caught up in all of that”  Kimberly missed most of the fight between the two teammates, whereas Mia was there from the start.

“Oh” Mia should have clarified on _what_ she wanted to talk about, she looked up from the notebook full of Kimberly’s plans to give her friend her full attention. “Lauren can handle herself just fine in a fight” She had years of martial arts and weight training for softball, that girl was _solid_. The likes of Gia Moran and her temper never stood a chance. “Those two hardly ever agree on anything. That’s how it’s always been. It’s just a clash of personality types” The entire GSA knew how to throw down when push came to shove, Jayden and Lauren taught the others everything they knew...being the first out couples of Angel Grove High, it was the safest thing for them at the time. “...I mean did you want to talk about Trini?”

Kimberly shook her head no, they were out at a Krispy Kreme, this wasn’t where she wanted to into the subject of her girlfriend. “I want to talk about promotions” She wanted to get her mind off of the issue of what she was feeling, she couldn’t let herself fall back on bad habits. Kimberly _needed_ to put all of her energy into something positive, a distraction from the storm brewing inside.

“Okay then” Mia understood, business it was. If that was what Kimberly needed her for, she would happily oblige. “I have some ideas on what we can do to expand on this”

 

********

Kimberly was relieved that Zack chose her to be her partner in this dare night situation. She was confused by the move, but it meant that she didn’t have to spend a night doing dares with Tommy. She didn’t need anything else to complicate her life right now. There was multiple reasons why she didn’t want to spend time alone with her ex-boyfriend, reasons she needed to push back if she wanted to actually _enjoy_ her night.

It was odd for Kimberly, thinking back on her time with the sandlot gang she never really spent much time one on one with Zack. He was always _Trini’s_ best friend, it wasn’t that he was off limits or anything like that they just...didn’t spend the quality time together. Zack was always around for group activities or sometimes he would be around with Kimberly and Amanda when they went into town for shopping. He made an excellent bag carrier boyfriend, never complained once. He actually turned it into a challenge to see how much he could carry without it being too much of a hassle. It was a shame that they had never spent the time together, now that Kimberly reflected on it, out of everyone in the group he really had the most hardship but somehow managed to keep his life together he somehow still managed to smile. Well, that certainly had to change and that could start tonight.

“What do we got?” Kimberly asked curiously as the two started to descend the mountain path. The two both agreed because it was such a nice spring night out, they shouldn’t rely on their cars to get around town. The less time they spent at home the better.

Zack seemed a bit distracted himself, but opened up the first card. “Climb to the top of a streetlight and do three chin ups. Ha piece of cake” For that the pair would have to go _into_ town where there were nice streetlamps with a curvature at the top for them to use. It gave them a great opportunity to walk and enjoy the weather. Though Zack was mostly distracted by texting on his phone.

“Am I boring you?” Kimberly shoved her hands into her pockets, she supposed she wasn’t that great of company to be around right now. He could probably feel her anguish from where he stood, the weight of Trini’s betrayal loomed over her like a little grey cloud, the ones that look like they could break with a downpour of rain at anytime.

“Huh? Oh sorry” He pocketed his phone, “Amanda’s going through some stuff and I just wanted to make sure she’s okay” Kimberly frowned, with softball and her girlfriend taking over most of her life she didn’t have much time to spend with her best friend from the cheerleading squad. God. She turned into _that_ person who didn’t even know her friend was upset.

“...What kind of stuff?” Kimberly frowned, she had no qualms in the past asking other people for dirt. She spent years being able to climb the social ladder, she could get secrets out of anyone if she tried hard enough. Kim closed her eyes, no, if Amanda wanted to tell her she would, “You don’t have to answer that...but how is she?”

“It’s just family stuff” Zack answered the question anyway, at least vaguely enough that Kim had an inkling of an idea to what was going on. “She’ll be okay, I think” He looked up to the stars above them, “Look. I know what Trini did” Kim looked in his direction, judging by the solemn look on his face he was hurting just as much as she was...maybe even more. “I know why you’re upset”

“Oh” Kimberly didn’t have much of a response, outside of kicking a small pebble down the path. They were both upset with their person, and neither knew how to process it. “How did you find out?” There was no way, _no_ way in hell Trini told him. Kimberly knew her girlfriend well enough that if she had a secret she needed to hide she would fight like hell to keep it under wraps. They had to hide their relationship for months, Kimberly knew the lengths Trini could go through.

“I confronted her about it” He nodded his head, checking his phone once more before putting it away, Amanda hadn’t texted him back. “Something just felt off about it. She _had_ that ball long enough to get set and when she’s set you know she holds onto anything like a vice...I didn’t want to be right” Zack was the one that made the dumb play to try and make it to home plate, he was fast but not _that_ fast. “...I _hate_ this. My mom was _so_ happy Kim...the guys, it’s like I’m in their secret club now. You heard them, they’re starting to _like_ me. I didn’t _do_ anything” He knew that they would like him after time, probably, everyone took a little warming up to the kid from the trailer park.

Kimberly reached over to his forearm, offering him a sympathetic smile, “You’re her best friend” Which apparently, for that moment, trumped girlfriend. “As stupid as it was, she did it to try and help you” Trini would always find ways to try and help _her_ people, and in that _ten_ seconds she decided other people’s fates.

“That’s what makes it worse” Zack sighed, “She did it because she felt bad. Like dropping the ball would _fix_ things for me.” He knew _why_ she did it, his mom was in the audience, everyone in town was watching. He suddenly went from the zero to the team to the hero who let the boys keep their field while the girls had to play on something sub-par. “I don’t know what to do, she’s my best friend”

“...I know…” Kimberly knew the feeling well, the uncertainty, she loved Trini so much but now... _now_ she associated her girlfriend with this overwhelming sense of hurt. “I can’t even be in the same room with her right now” She even considered starting to skip her biology classes just so she wouldn’t have to sit next to Trini for 50 minutes worth of learning, but no, she couldn’t do that. Her grades were too important to let slide, if she wanted to get into any college she had to keep up with her studies. Showing up was an integral part of that.

Zack glanced over to his friend, “Are you going to break up?” It was a painful question, but one that felt natural to ask. He had seen couples break up over less strifling causes. As one of the only boys to sit at the cheerleading table for lunch he learned a _lot_ about relationships. Amanda’s girls would just talk, and gripe about how their boyfriends would pick video games over texting them back or stringing them along or just doing generally shitty things. Zack felt bad, but he didn’t mind, it made him look great. Who knew being a decent human being could be so _sexy_ , it was astounding to him how little effort the jocks put into even trying to make their girlfriends happy.

This conversation got very real, very fast, Kimberly shook her head no. “I don’t know” She was being honest, she _didn’t_ know, she didn’t _want_ to. As confusing as this all was to her she still loved Trini, that wasn’t just going to dissipate over one dropped ball. “It’s complicated” It was worth fighting for, Kim just needed the time to regroup. To be able to look at Trini without _feeling_ this way.

“Yeah, yeah I get that” He was in the same boat, complicated. He rested his hands behind his neck as they started to enter the town. “You know what? No. Fuck this” His statement surprised Kimberly, “We are not going to waste a good night wallowing. It’s too nice of a night to waste on hurt feelings. Fuck it. Fuck baseball and _drama_ right now, we are going to have fun. It’s dare night” Zack saw the streetlamp up ahead and with a running start he got a great jump and climbed up the rest of the way. He had enough upper body strength to make the task look _easy._ Once he was at the top he sported a grin, doing the chin ups that were required. “C’mon! You’re missing out on a photo opportunity” When he felt down about his mother he turned to stunts to distract him from the pain he was feeling. It was an easy escape to just say fuck it to everything.  

Kimberly laughed incredulously shaking her head as she got her phone out to take the picture. She had to swipe past her home screen to get to the camera app, a photo of Kimberly kissing Trini’s cheek as her girlfriend tried to take a selfie of them was a reminder of a better place. “Can you do it with one arm?”

“Oh you mean like this?” Zack kept his dominant hand on the top of the curved streetlamp, his other arm he used to flex his bicep like a champion.

Kimberly took the picture and sent it to the softball group chat as well as sending it to Amanda, she knew her best friend was going through a tough time but hopefully the sight of her boyfriend doing something outrageous would lift her spirits for ten seconds. “Alright get down before we get into trouble”

“GET OUT OF THAT FOUNTAIN!” A voice yelled from a distance. Zack and Kimberly laughed as the freshman couple Hayley and Calvin had to rush out of the fountain at the center of town, their pant legs completely soaked and their hands were full of quarters. The police were up for an interesting night. God how good it felt to genuinely laugh again. It was almost as if she forgot how to do it the past couple of days. Zack was right. _Fuck it._ If only for a couple of hours.

 _Hayley Foster: 8:47  
_ _Calvin and I got yelled at by the police for trying to take the coins out of the Angel Grove fountain_

Kimberly laughed as Hayley’s message just flashed on her screen, she was able to see it in person and that was what made it better. But then her phone blew up with messages from the others, the downside of being in a group conversation.

Tori Hanson: 8:52  
_I am now a master of surfing on shopping carts  
_ |_/ (>.<) |_/

 _Tori Hanson: 8:53  
_ _[VIDEO] Hope that sent!_

 _Tori Hanson 8:54  
_ _Your move Hart._

 _Kimberly Hart 8:55  
_ _Are you challenging Zack and I? Because it’s ON._

Kimberly showed Zack the video that Tori had sent, Tori and Cameron were outside of the convenience store and Tori ran with a shopping cart to give it the momentum it needed so she could jump into it and stand on it...surfing on land. She wanted to challenge Kimberly? Oh ho, and Zack? That was her first mistake.

“We can so beat this” Zack was always one to rise up to any challenge, he welcomed anything right now that would take his mind off of the Trini issue in his life. Eager to see what their next dare would be, he quickly opened up the next envelope. “Okay we gotta sneak onto the football field and climb the goal post” A lot of climbing things, okay that wouldn’t be too hard at all-they just couldn’t get caught.

Kimberly felt a rush to the challenge, she slapped Zack’s chest to grab his attention. “I’ll race you there”

The two literally were running away from their problems as they rushed to the school. It felt so freeing to _not_ care for just a little while. They were out being stupid teenagers and doing dumb things written on cards and that was okay...tonight was too beautiful of a night to not enjoy life. Zack and Kimberly passed Bridge and Emma as they came out of the Krispy Kreme with a dozen donuts. Hayley and Calvin had to do the dare with the fountain, who knows what the others were up to...and as upset as she was with Trini she hoped her girlfriend and Mike managed to have a good night as well.

They were able to get up to the field goal post with relative ease, Kimberly had to steady Zack enough so he wouldn’t stumble or lose balance. If they were taking a selfie to try and one up Tori Hanson and Cameron Watanabe they needed it to be perfection. “Okay are you ready?”

“Yeah” Zack grinned, winking and doing a finger gun right at the camera, “Point for team Zamberly”

Kim took the picture ten seconds before frowning, she processed what he just said. “No way. We are team Kimack”

“That sounds stupid” Zack sat on goal post, letting his legs hang off of it, “Zamberly just flows off the tongue naturally, Kimack sounds harsh and lame” He laughed as Kimberly narrowed her eyes at him, “Hey I just call ‘em like I see em. Who do you think came up with Zamanda?”

Kimberly stared at him, this was _such_ a stupid conversation, “ _Amanda_ ” She knew how her best friend loved to throw around hashtags on her social media, creating a couple name for them definitely sounded like something up her alley. “No way, you’re just going to have to deal with Kimack” She was not going to be the second part of a freaking combined name _again_. To the softball girls whenever one would try an address both of them they just stuck to ‘Trimberly’. Kim shook her head, she was doing so well not to think of her girlfriend. “What’s our next dare?”

“We have to jump into someones backyard pool without them knowing” Zack laughed, that sounded like an absolute blast. The only people who were rich enough to have pools in Angel Grove were the rich, the well off the...neighbors of Kimberly Hart or Tommy Oliver. That could be doable pretty easily.

Zack was about to jump down from the goal posts, he would be able to catch Kimberly pretty easily when the other girl grabbed his arm to stop him. “Tori just sent us a video...she…” Kim tilted her head and squinted her eyes as she watched what was unfolding in front of her. “She picked up a goose. _Oh_ they’re attacking oh...oh my god” And she thought _she_ was a risk taker but clearly she had nothing on her teammate. “I….don’t even know how to one up this”

“I do” Zack jumped off of the goal posts and extended his arms only for Kimberly to jump off and land perfectly on her feet right beside him. Oh right. Cheerleader. Well, he tried. “We one up something she’s already done”

Their night of distractions wound them up at the only convenience store that was still open at this hour. Shopping carts. If Tori thought surfing on _one_ was cool wait until she saw Zack flipping off of three. They’ll show her. Kimberly wasn’t sure how she felt about this particular plan but if he was confident in himself then it’d probably be fine….probably, yeah. The two teenagers grabbed four different shopping carts, the real challenge was to stack them one up onto the other until three stood on top of each other perfectly.

“That seems pretty unstable” Kimberly watched by the fourth, unattached, shopping cart on the ground as Zack climbed their latest creation. Maybe this was a dumb idea after all. “How are we going to tape this?”

“Uhhh” At his vantage point, Zack was able to spot one of the convenience store workers a teenager much  like themselves. “Hey buddy! A little help over here!” He put his hands around his mouth to try and amplify his voice and get this kids attention. If Zack was out here pushing carts all day he would welcome _any_ sort of distraction. Delivering pizza’s wasn’t the most thrilling job out there but tips were good and it was mostly driving.

Kimberly recognized the worker as one of their schoolmates, oh, it was the football player Danny Delgado one of the best tackles Angel Grove has ever seen. The _last_ time Kimberly interacted with him it was ah, it was interesting. She rubbed the back of her neck, oh this was going to be awkward. “Hey Danny”

“Kimberly?” He didn’t have any classes with the former cheerleader and since Kim mostly spent her time with the rejects under the stairs he barely crossed paths with her at school. “Haha” He cracked a smile, he remembered the summer fling party just as well as she did, “No Amanda? That’s a shame”

“No Max?” She retorted, the two laughed and Kimberly handed him her phone. At least he didn’t have any hard feelings on what Kimberly and Amanda got him and his best friend Max to do. “Can you videotape this trick?” She motioned up to Zack, Danny was honestly confused by the whole situation but he stepped back anyway and took the video as asked. “Okay Zack, you don’t have to do this”

“Oh it’ll be fine!” Zack reassured Kimberly with a wave, the worst that’d happen was that he could crack his head open but he was positive in his abilities that he wouldn’t do that. Once he got the okay from Danny that he was recording, Zack got up onto the edge of the shopping cart and proceeded to do a back flip right into the cart Kimberly was holding. Like a champion gymnast he put his hands up into the air dramatically, 10/10 for Zack Taylor and the crowd goes wild.

Kimberly let out a relieved breath while Danny stood there in absolute awe, “Duuuuude!!” He quickly ran up to Kimberly and Zack as the ex-cheerleader helped her best friend out of the cart. Danny wanted to show them the video as quickly as possible. “This is so awesome!” He played it again for them to which Kimberly and Zack hi-fived. This was _sure_ to beat Tori Hanson and Cameron Watanabe--mostly Tori at her own game. “Shit I ah gotta get back to work. It was nice seeing you Kim” He started to disassemble the tower-o-shopping carts before he could get yelled at for them. “Tell Amanda I say hi” He winked, actually winked at her before going back to his regular job.

Zack frowned in confusion, what was this dude going off about his girlfriend for? Clearly they had been Facebook official for _months_ now, Amanda Clark, very taken. He looked to Kimberly for an explanation but she was too busy smiling and sending the video to the group chat-she so wanted to win and he was going to literally bend over backwards to make that happen. “Uh what was that all about?”

“Oh God” Kimberly knew she was going to have to tell Zack this story, she patted his chest and started walking toward Tommy’s neighborhood. She knew of the Tien's who lived a couple doors down from Tommy were  _never_ home so that pool was one they could easily jump into for a grand finale of Dare Night. Tommy always talked big game about using their pool...but he never actually did when push came to shove. “Well, okay” This was during her bitchier phase of life, she hated telling stories of that time period. “We wanted to see if two football guys would kiss each other and we just gave them a little incentive” She explained vaguely, when his expression remained blank Kimberly sighed. “I made out with your girlfriend at the Summer Fling party last year”

Zack’s eyes blew wide at the visual, there were days when he tried to figure out if Kimberly was bi or not to try and set his best friend Trini up and this _whole_ time one of the biggest clues was right under his nose. His own damn girlfriend. “Who do I have to kiss to make that a repeat event?” He asked with a laugh, he thought this news was _wonderful_. “I will gladly kiss Jason” Kimberly raised a brow at him at his offer, “For that cause? It’s worth it”

“I’m not going to kiss Amanda _again_ oh my god” Kimberly laughed at the idea of Zack trying to kiss Jason, poor Jason. “Trini would definitely _not_ like the idea of that” And all of a sudden the two teenagers were reminded of the one person they wanted to avoid thinking about. Right. Trini. Kimberly’s girlfriend, Zack’s best friend. The pair were silent as they continued their quest to find a pool to jump into. “What am I going to do?” She asked quietly, after a long lull between them, unsure of herself.

Zack offered her a small smile, he didn’t know what he was going to do about his best friend himself. “I think we both just need to keep some distance and clear our heads” He had a girlfriend, a job, a team, a mom to worry about...throwing Trini into the fire of his life was like throwing a wrench into a well oiled machine and breaking up the flow of things. Zack could never hate her, but he couldn’t forgive her for this just yet. Disappointment.

“Hmm” Kimberly hummed a response, nodding her head to show that she actually was listening to what he had to say. She needed a break, she needed time to herself, _for_ herself.

On their way to Preston Tien’s the two had to pass Tommy Oliver’s house….a house that was covered in toilet paper rolls. Zack brought a hand to cover his mouth at the beautiful sight of the prank while Kimberly already had her phone to take pictures of this masterpiece. Her ex-boyfriend definitely would be in for an awakening when he came home to _this_ . Oh it felt _really_ good to see this done to Thomas Oliver’s home, the mayor of Angel Grove was a dick to say the least and this was justice...well delinquent justice. The Oliver’s weren’t popular with _everyone_ it seemed.

Zack and Kimberly snuck into the Tien’s backyard when the security light came on. Shit. Zack held Kimberly close and hid behind a tree, they weren’t here to break into a home and steal something they just wanted to jump into a pool and complete their dares for the night. “I think we’re okay” Zack kept his voice low, thirty second past and nothing...a minute...nothing. Zack wasn’t one to waste time he didn’t even bother to take off his clothes, he just took his phone and wallet out of his pockets and then made a beeline for the pool and cannon balled in.

Kimberly waited and took off her shirt and pants, walking around in wet jeans was _literally_ the worst so she wanted to avoid that as much as possible on a cold spring day. She jumped into the water as well and yelped oh _fuck_ was it cold. Zack couldn’t help but laugh at his poor friend’s suffering to adjust to the water in only a pink bra and underwear. He was thoroughly splashed for it, this was not refreshing.

Lights came on in the upstairs bedroom, Kimberly and Zack looked on with wide eyes, like deer caught in headlights. Fuck. A young Asian boy, Preston Tien, stuck his head out of his bedroom window. Surprised to see a girl--a hot girl and some other Asian dude in his pool. “What’re you doing?” He asked, mentally repeating _‘please don’t be hooking up, please don’t be hooking up’._

Seeing how Kim was the most exposed in this situation, Zack stood to body block her from Preston’s view. “Uh…….swimming in your pool?” There was really no getting out of this one, “Do you want to join us?”

“You’re Hayley’s friend” Kimberly recognized him from some of her friend’s pictures on Facebook. “I’m Kimberly Hart this is Zack Taylor and-”

“Y-you’re Kimberly Hart?” Kimberly Hart was _in his pool_ , this was the most popular girl in the entire sophomore class. “I...guess I could come down” He _was_ working on his homework...okay, that was a lie, he was working on practicing some magic tricks to impress people at school but that wasn’t really going in his favor either.

“We could teach you how to back flip!” Zack called, Kimberly slapped his shoulder, “What? That kid needs some major cool points and we do not need him to call the police”

Kimberly weighed those options, she did _not_ want to run into trouble with the law, she suffered enough trouble on _every_ Saturday as it was with her detention. “Yeah, c’mon down!”

In a weird turn of events for the evening, Kimberly and Zack were now taking turns teaching a freshman boy how to use his weight and proportions to flip off of his diving board and flip backwards. Preston was having the freaking time of his life and would have a bomb ass story to tell people on Tuesday. He made sure to get Kimberly and Zack some towels and a change of clothes for Zack that hardly fit him so the other boy wouldn’t freeze. Before they could leave he was _sure_ to get a selfie with the two of them. He needed some proof that the most popular girl in school and...Zack wound up in his pool that night. No one would believe him otherwise. 

With their dares completed and in warm clothes, Zack and Kimberly had to part for the night. The two didn’t say a word, Zack just pulled Kim in for a reassuring hug. He would be there for her and she would be there for him with this whole Trini situation. It was complicated, it sucked, but they at least had each other to rely on. Still, amidst all of that Kimberly managed to have a fun evening filled with twists and turns and flips she wasn’t expecting. For a night she could smile and let go of everything holding down...Tommy wasn’t so in the wrong by organizing this.

When Kimberly got home she uploaded Zack’s shopping cart video up to Facebook, she instantly got tons of likes and comments praising Zack for such an amazing stunt. His baseball team loved him, of course they would given enough time. Amanda, rightfully scolded him in the comments for doing something so risky. Tori continued to praise him for being the shopping cart king. The one notification that mattered to her was one:

 **Trini Gomez liked your post** **_._ **

A reminder for Kim that she had to come back down to reality sometime.   

**Author's Note:**

> I will be getting back to the actual fic soon. I hope you all liked this bonus content!


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